Page 81 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

I spun around and raced into the great room. She wasn’t there, either. A door down the hall closed with an almost inaudible click.

“Zoe,” I whispered harshly as my fear bloomed. Zoe knew this was no time to mess around. I told her about Vedar’s plan to keep us forever. She knew we needed to get out fast to help Chloe.

She wouldn’t sneak down the hallway.

Yet, I had to check.

My steps slowed as I reached it. Dim light streamed into the hall from the gap in the door to Vedar’s room. Beyond that, I couldn’t see the door to the room he’d put Zoe in. I couldn’t see any of the drywall shrapnel that had been littering the hallway after our breakout, either.

Everything in me screamed trap.

But who set it?

Was it Vedar? Or had the giant somehow gotten in when we hadn’t managed to find a way to get out? My pulse started to race with my blooming panic.

A whisper of sound came from behind me. I whirled around and stumbled back from Vedar, who stood too close. His hands gripped my waist, and he leaned in, rubbing his cheek against mine.

“No.” I lifted my hands and pushed at his shoulders.

The clicking continued, uninterrupted. I pushed harder. He tossed me over his shoulder and started walking, his butt cheeks flexing near my forehead. I drew back a hand but hesitated to deliver the smack I wanted to.

Damn the dragon and his unpredictable behavior.

“Do you have Zoe? Is she safe?” I demanded instead.

“She is safe with my babezling.”

“Your babezling? He ran away because of all your yelling and kicking.” I’d hoped bringing up his mistreatment would help him understand that he was mistreating me. Instead, he chuckled, and the sound curled in my belly, heating me from the inside.

“He didn’t run. He won over your sister as I asked and cares for your sister at my request.”

He strode into his room—I recognized the floor—and shut the door. Only then did he turn me right side up. That was the single nice thing he did. Once I stood on my own two feet, he dragged me by the arm through the room.

“Vedar, please.” Then, I clamped my mouth shut. Begging wouldn’t work. In all of Ashlyn’s books, she’d repeated again and again that pleading would do no good. They were either indifferent to the plights of humans or took sick pleasure in our suffering.

“Let us go,” I said instead.

“Where?”

“Home.”

“You’re safer here.”

He continued towing me toward his beloved treasure pile. Along the way, he grew until he could pick me up with his front paw and carried me the rest of the way. He settled on his warmed gold with a sigh and tucked me close to his chest, clicking away like crazy.

I seethed and tried to wiggle free. He allowed more space. Just enough to see between his foreleg and lumbering jaw. No sheets or vase floated in the pool. The bed was once again neatly made.

“It’s too hot in here,” I said, pushing up on his jaw.

He moved to the side, giving me enough room to scramble out of his arms. I didn’t run, though. No, I was too mad.

I grabbed a nostril and jerked his head toward me. He inhaled sharply. His eyes widened. For a horrifying moment, I wondered if this counted as hurting him. Before I could pull back, his breath exploded out, and I went sailing backward.

I landed with a painful splash. Water engulfed me, going up my nose and into my mouth. My throat burned as I thrashed for the surface and came up choking. Hair covering my face, I coughed and gasped, trying to draw in a breath.

The damn dragon had almost killed me with a sneeze.

Wheezing in one breath at a time, I pushed back my hair to glare at him. But the pile of treasure was empty. Confused, I turned and glanced at the bed. He wasn’t there, either.

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